Qin Xuelian wasn’t a greedy person. On the contrary, she was very easily satisfied.
As such, she wasn’t overly jealous of the winner of the gold ingot. Instead, she was overwhelmed with delight at having been award with twenty silver pieces and hummed a little tune all the way back towards her hut.
Walking past the Li family courtyard, she even let out a soft "hmph" with a hint of delight. Fang Houde’s mood was just as cheerful.
In Fang Houde’s heart, being able to marry a wife as beautiful as Qin Xuelian was already the epitome of prosperity for him. Today, her superior "skills" even earned them twenty pieces of silver.
What was there not to celebrate about?
Well…
When pleasant surprises start to present themselves regularly, people are likely to be blessed with unbelievably good luck.
That was exactly how Fang Houde felt at this moment.
Because, he just stepped on gold!
Shiny, sparking gold!
On his journey home, the accidental kick he gave sent the gold rolling. The sound, the feeling, they were overwhelming!
"Gold!" Fang Houde’s eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets.
Snatching up the ingot of gold like a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey, he held it with delight.
"Whose gold is this? It looks so familiar! It looks like that gold ingot belonging to the daughter of the Divine Constabulary, could it be that the boy on the stage accidentally dropped it while running away?" Staring at the gold ingot in Fang Houde’s hands, Qin Xuelian was equally amazed.
Fang Zhengzhi pressed his ears against the wall, overhearing their conversations, his heart pounding with impatience. He had considered a wide variety of methods to pass the gold to Qin Xuelian and Fang Houde.
But in the end, he finally decided on this method. It was safe, and most importantly, there was no evidence that it came from him!
What he didn’t quite understand was why were these two people on the other side of the wall not rushing home immediately after picking up the gold? Waiting for it to be reclaimed?
Please don’t turn it over to the village!
That would have caused him to vomit gallons of blood…
"How about we pass it to the village chief, and leave the investigation to him to return the gold to its rightful owner?" Fang Houde consulted Qin Xuelian, his hands still wrapped around the gold.
"Dong!"
Just as Fang Zhengzhi prepared to knock some sense into his simpleton dad with a rock, Qin Xuelian has already landed a brutal blow directly onto Fang Houde’s head.
"Are you stupid! This is gold! We can leave this for Zhengzhi’s marriage in the future!" Although Qin Xuelian wasn’t greedy, she definitely wasn’t dumb enough to give up the gold.
Moreover, Fang Houde even suggested turning it over to the village chief!
Her blood started to boil with anger as memories of the village chief prioritising the Li family in the preliminary examination namelist flowed back to her.
"Your scolding is justified! We should leave this gold for Zhengzhi’s future marriage!" Fang Houde instantly broke into a smile, and courteously presented the gold ingot to Qin Xuelian.
"That’s more like it!" Not giving any face to Fang Houde, Qin Xuelian snatched over and immediately kept the gold ingot. A thought suddenly crossed her mind. "Hey, the person on stage just now, could it be Zhengzhi?"
Fang Zhengzhi, concealed behind the wall, started to sweat profusely. It was no easy task dealing with his own mother!
…...
When Qin Xuelian and Fang Houde opened the gate to the house, Fang Zhengzhi was already "sound asleep" on his bed.
Qin Xuelian and Fang Houde glanced at one another, smiled softly and left.
Once they exited from the house, Fang Zhengzhi immediately opened his eyes. The gold was settled, but there was something else bothering him strongly.
Sitting upright on his bed, he gently pushed open the small window beside his bed and looked out at the starry skies, his mind replaying what he saw earlier that day.
Was it me who solved the Illustration of All Creations?
Fang Zhengzhi was undecided. After some thinking, he decided to give it another try.
Man’s knowledge is limitless, Yin, Yang, holding his breath, channeling his Chi, breathing in deeply…
In just one night, Fang Zhengzhi deeply experienced the "universe", and tried his hands on channeling his "Chi" to absorb "spiritual energy", then realised…
The "spiritual energy" he absorbed, was what people normally call "air".
Left with no other methods, he gave up.
"What the hell, where’s my Fire Plume Chicken? Why am I missing one?" Just as he was prepared to sleep, a sharp cry from the neighbouring courtyard pierced the silent air.
Fang Zhengzhi twitched his mouth, and casually covered himself up with his small blanket.
...
Ten days later, a contingent made up of two horse carriages and more than ten soldiers in glimmering armour came to the Southern Mountain Village.
Despite its small size, the contingent put the whole village into another state of frenzy. Village Chief Meng Bai quickly assembled the villagers and ordered a celebratory feast to be held in the village square.
The construction of the Hall of Dao was indeed an event deserving of celebration, an event envied by villages across the land. It signifies that the Southern Mountain Village now occupies a spot under the holy command of the Divine Constabulary.
Promptly, a new wood-crafted memorial arch was set up in the Southern Mountain Village ancestral hall, adorned with the words "Divine Constabulary".
After worshipping the memorial arch on bended knees, Village Chief Meng Bai’s face flushed with delight, holding a cigar in one hand, and a bowl of wine in the other.
"My fellow villagers, it is our great fortune to have the Divine Constabulary set up this Hall of Dao in our humble Southern Mountain Village. From today onwards, our village will now also be able to produce great heros that understand the Law of Dao!"
Once he finished his opening speech, Village Chief Meng Bai drained his wine, took a puff of cigar and delightfully introduced the two robed men beside him. Then, it was their turn to speak.
Fang Zhengzhi initially thought that this would be a huge waste of time, but luckily after a simple introduction from each of them, they quickly ended their speech.
Evidently, after travelling such a long distance to the Southern Mountain Village, they were starving!
Finally, the feast officially began.
The numerous large tables on the village square were surrounded by joyful villagers, downing their wine continuously. On the other hand, staring at the villagers at his table, Fang Zhengzhi’s thought of something.
"Uncles, someone asked me a question today. What has legs but can’t walk? Do you all know the answer?"
Hearing this interesting question, the villagers began to ponder.
What has legs but cannot walk?
"Is it fish from the river?"
"How is that possible? Fishes have tails, not legs!"
"..."
More and more answers were shouted out, the villagers’ discussions becoming more and more intense, each suggesting his own solution to the question. Some villagers also seemed to be deep in thought.
On the other hand, Fang Zhengzhi…
Was devouring the food on the table as fast as he could!
...
Once the feast ended, the village square was riddled with mess. The male villagers stood up and left, leaving the women behind to clean up the litter.
Fang Zhengzhi might only be six, but he was also fortunately grouped with the men. As such, he was not obliged to clean up. It was still early, hence Fang Zhengzhi decided to talk a walk around the village with his stumpy legs.
"Fang Zhengzhi, let’s play hide and seek!"
"I don’t want to play"
Fang Zhengzhi sternly rejected the invitation of a little boy, whose mucus was flowing uncontrollably from his nose.
"Fang Zhengzhi, let’s go swim in the river!"
"Is your elder sister going?"
"My elder sister is still helping with the cleanup…"
"Then I’m not going!"
"..."
Fatigued from having walked one full round around the village, Fang Zhengzhi prepared to go back home and take a rest.
Just when he reached home, Qin Xuelian’s thrilled voice sounded out from outside the door before Fang Zhengzhi even had time to lie down on his bed.
"Zhengzhi’s dad! Zhengzhi’s dad! Miracle! It’s a miracle!"